In October 1968, the Viking football team fielded by North Park College (Chicago, IL) highlighted its season with a Homecoming pasting of the North Central College Cardinals (Naperville, IL) by a final score of 104-32!! (See Homecoming pin) The Vikings finished the season with a winning record of 6-3, and three players from the team continued their football careers when selected during the NFL draft. Since this apex, the Viking football team has a history of futility by, for example, 1) failing to finish above .500 in every year since 1968, 2) enduring an 89 consecutive conference losing streak at the beginning of this century, and 3) completing an 8-28 record during my four years as a co-ed. In my senior year, a friend wrote about sports for the student newspaper. Rob chronicled the futility with headlines that read, “Vikings Edge Closer to a Winless Season” and “0-9 Sorry Virginia, There Is No Santa Claus.” Rob recently told me that football players approached him to criticize his negative-yet accurate- reporting.
As North Park football became an ongoing embarrassment, the mens basketball team became the star sport by winning five national championships. FIVE! During my co-ed years, the Vikings went 80-31, including the FOURTH national championship, a story that can be found here: https://www.eastportlandblog.com/2021/11/08/1985-division-iii-mens-basketball-championship-memories-with-pix-by-mark-erickson/ More recently, mens basketball has experiences successes like a CCIW conference tournament championship and NCAA national tournament victories.
And how has the North Central Cardinal football team recently performed? Well, they have beaten North Park 27 consecutive times by an average score of 45-10. In 2009, the Cardinals pillaged the Vikings, 83-7! North Central is currently ranked #1 in the nation and won national championships in 2019 and 2022.
And how has the North Park football team recently performed in the 21st century? The Vikings can claim a 5-5 season in 2023 and a 2-0 start in 2024. They have 10 games this season and face a beatable Elmhurst opponent this weekend, followed by an upper tier Augustana College team the week prior to Homecoming on October 12. Will this be the year North Park catapults to a season >.500??? I doubt it.
Ciao ciao for now,
Mark
